Ship in a Bottle (episode)
Professor Moriarty returns, only this time he gains control of the real Enterprise as well. Summary During a holo-adventure, Data observes some irregularities in the program. Lieutenant Barclay is asked to check the holodeck, but when doing so he unintentionally releases Professor James Moriarty from the protected memory in which the latter had been saved. Moriarty asks to meet with Picard on the holodeck, who does so - together with Barclay and Data - and demands from the captain to be allowed into the whole ship. When this is refused, on the grounds that he cannot exist outside the holodeck, he asks the captain to summon a holodeck exit and walks out. During a tour of the ship given by Picard, Moriarty asks for his beloved - Countess Regina Bartholomew - to be released from the holodeck as well. The captain refuses again, this time on the grounds that they are not certain yet that it will work again. Some time later, Moriarty takes over command by overwriting the command codes and demands for the crew to look into a solution. It is not before Picard promises to do so that Moriarty returns some control. Barclay and Data attempt to transport a chair from the holodeck to the transporter room to determine if holographic objects can be moved off the holodeck in this manner, but the attempt fails. When Data checks the transporter logs, he is puzzled to find them empty, as if the attempt never happened. He goes to Engineering where Picard is gathered with La Forge and arrives the moment those two attempt to gain back full control of the ''Enterprise''. However, when the captain gives his command code, it does not work. When Data sees Geordi entering commands with his left hand, he is finally able to determine how Moriarty managed to leave the holodeck - he never did. In fact, Data, the captain and Barclay are all trapped on the holodeck which is running a simulation created by Moriarty. By giving his command codes moments before, Picard has just made things worse, because Moriarty is now able to use those codes to take full control of the real ship and not just the holodeck one. Picard then devises a plan: as a decoy, he mentions to the Countess that they could try decoupling the Heisenberg compensators. Moriarty then demands that Commander Riker do so, and he seemingly is beamed into the cargo bay together with his love, and they leave with a shuttle to explore the galaxy together. Once off the Enterprise, he releases control of it. However, he is now in a holodeck simulation created by Picard running inside Moriarty's own simulation - a holodeck within a holodeck. Picard then saves this simulation and ends both programs. The memory modules are taken out of the holodeck computer and kept running forever. Since Moriarty and the Countess are unaware that they are still in a simulation, they will live out their lives as if in the real world, in a way fulfilling Moriarty's dream of being released from the holodeck. Background Information *This episode makes several references to, and is a continuation of, the events of the second Season episode TNG: "Elementary, Dear Data". *The "planetary collision" seen as a subplot in this episode bears a remarkable similarity to the same scenes in George Pal's "When Worlds Collide" (1951), and may have been intended as a homage to the film. *This episode has one of the longest openings (scene prior to the opening theme) at around six and a half minutes Links and References Guest Stars *Dwight Schultz as Reginald Barclay *Daniel Davis as James Moriarty *Clement von Franckenstein as Gentleman *Stephanie Beacham as Countess Regina Bartholomew References Sherlock Holmes; Pattern enhancer; Type-7 shuttlecraft; Sakharov; Holo-programs; Omnidirectional holographic diode; Pup; Heisenberg compensator; Detrian system; Meles II; Class-4 probe Category:TNG episodes de:Das Schiff in der Flasche nl:Ship in a Bottle